This article makes supremely important points that are all too often overlooked. Find out how and why the “Palestinians” were invented in The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process.
“Losing the Semantic War on ‘Palestine,’” by Mitchell Bard, Algemeiner, December 5, 2019:
I have written before about the importance of semantics in the discussion of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and how frustrated many people are about losing various battles over nomenclature, such as references to the disputed territories as “occupied,” and “Judea and Samaria” as the West Bank. An arguably more important semantic battle regarding this area has gone largely unnoticed — and been lost without a fight.
Many of Israel’s detractors, professors, the media, and others now routinely refer to the conflict as “Israel-Palestine.” Here are a few examples:
- Jewish Voice for Peace has a web page for Israel Palestine Conflict 101.
- Human Rights Watch’s website has the header “Israel/Palestine” as does the respected journal Foreign Policy.
- The Global Policy Forum goes one better with its page on “Israel, Palestine and the Occupied Territories.”
- Brown University’s newspaper headlined its coverage of a discussion by two Middle East analysts, “Policy experts talk Israel-Palestine conflict.”
- Tablet ran the story, “How To Talk About Israel And Palestine.”
- Haaretz, Newsweek, NPR, and The Independent are just a sample of media outlets listing articles under “Israel-Palestine.”
- The Middle East Studies Association routinely has panels and papers such as “Regional Politics and the Palestine/Israel Conflict” and “Memory and History in the Palestine/Israel Conflict.”
- The University of Colorado has an endowed professor of Israel/Palestine Studies in the Program in Jewish Studies.
Why is this a problem?
Any scholar who is not pushing a political agenda knows Palestine ceased to exist in 1948 when Israel won its war of independence, and Jordan (which is also part of historic Palestine) seized the West Bank and Egypt captured the Gaza Strip.
The use of the word “Palestine” is sometimes unclear. Is it referencing the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Israel, Gaza, or some combination of these areas? Depending on the interpretation, this could delegitimize the existence of Israel and the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their homeland.
It is also problematic because it can imply that the conflict is over an area where the Palestinians were once sovereign. This feeds the narrative of Israel as an occupier. The Palestinians have never had a state, and had no interest in one during the Jordanian occupation.
Referring to the Israel-Palestine conflict also reinforces the idea that the dispute is over land. Often misleadingly described as a fight by two peoples over one land, the reality is more complex, as it involves politics, psychology, history, and religion. In recent years, the Islamization of the conflict has eclipsed other factors, as many Palestinians reject the historical Jewish connection to the land and will not contemplate Jews living on Islamic territory or ruling over Muslims.
The most pernicious aspect of the reference to “Palestine” is to create a false equivalency with the sovereign nation of Israel. Israel is a democracy that shares the values and interests of the West. Palestine does not exist; it may one day in the future, but for now, there is only the Palestinian Authority, which is autocratic, denies its people their basic rights, and does not share the values or interests of the West…
elee says
Palestine as a self-governing entity ceased to exist sometime around the time Samson brought down the temple of Dagon (16 Judges). There was a Roman province by that name later; few if any of its inhabitants were Arabs. Different political territories, Arabia Petraea for example, housed the Arabs. Speaking of contemporary Levantine Arabs—- if indeed that is their actual ethnicity, apart from the conquerors language the region adopted sometime after the Muslim invasions—as Palestinian, perpetuates an anti-Semitic fraud. We should expunge the term from our speech, and also stop referring to Persia as Iran. Stop using Nazi place-names for , well, Judea and everywhere/anywhere else in the world. Gentile Semites indigenous to the area were Christian and spoke Aramaic. The Muslims may succeed in doing to their culture and language what Muslims do to other religions and cultures wherever they turn up.
MikeyParks says
The Left’s modus operandi: invent a lie and push it until it’s considered the common truth. Seems to work every time.
Walter Sieruk says
The reality is that there is are no Israeli occupied territories on the West Bank .This is because all of the West Bank belongs , by Divine Right to the Jewish people. As revealed in the Bible in Genesis 28:13-15. 35:48, 49. Psalms 105:7-11. 135:4. Furthermore, the Jewish people should also have that land by historic rights. As found in First Kings 4:20,21,24,25. 8:55,56. The verses also applies to the other areas of land own by the State of Israel.
As the Bible in Psalm 135:4 reads “ For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself , Israel for His special treasure.” [N.K.J.N.]
Infidel says
‘Palestine’ would mean what was historically a combination of Judea, Samaria, Galilee, Negev, rest of Isreal, Gaza and maybe even Sinai (once Moses crossed the Red Sea, meaning more likely what we know today as the Gulf of Suez, he was out of Egyptian control: Pharaonic Egypt did not include the Sinai). So if the Arab inhabitants of Transjordan wast of the Dead Sea and the Jordan river just got Judea and Samaria, would they call it ‘Palestine’ if that’s all they wanted? They’d probably have called it whatever they called it in Arabic in pre-Israeli times. Except that they didn’t seem to call it anything.
The logical approach to this is to treat ‘Palestine’ as a pure geographical entity, much like Mesopotamia, or Anatolia/Asia Minor, or Turan, or Arabia, or the Balkans. Something that has no political significance whatsoever. And use this term to denote (Israel+Judea+Samaria+Gaza+Sinai). That way, even the PLO wouldn’t dare to refer to a ‘Palestine’ w/o questioning Cairo’s ownership of the Sinai
Jule Bacal says
If people knew that Greeks conquered & used to rule this region during the Hellenist Era and made Greek the official Language things might make more sense to them. Palaistine is the Greek way to say the Hebrew word Yisrael. Yisra and Palaistes means wrestle or struggle. It refers to Jacob who wrestled the old power EL and was then called Yisrael. He had the 12 sons who ruled 12 of the states of Yisrael. (actually there was 13 but one was not a son but a relative) Later on the region split into Yisrael and Judea , North & South, because of some differences and Assyria attacked the North. But the point is that GREEKS called Yisrael, Palaistine meaning ‘followers of (ine) the one who wrestled power. Greeks were big on wrestling techniques and made wrestling (palaistes) schools and put it in the Olympics. Greeks wrote the first western Histories. Greeks translated the Hebrew scripts into Greek for the ‘West’ to read. Its called the Septuagint or Old Testament with Palaistine as the Holy land. People did not read Hebrew in the ‘West’ as Yisrael. Because back then Greeks were powerful and everyone of the ‘west’ (old Europe, Rome etc.) Philistine is also a GREEK name but means Crude or Without Culture. Palaistine is NOT Palaistine. Rome read Greek books. When Rome conquered, they called all the Levant Palaestina with Latin spelling and Romes rule included Damascus, half of Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan, Sinai, Gaza. All of it became Palaestina. That is the ORIGIN of the GREEK name Palaistine. No one used that conquerers name but those in the West. Tribes had their own names and Yisrael/Judea were the Holy land. I want people to know.
Today, when people do not understand something, they say ‘its Greek to me’. But Palaistine is GREEK and people ought to know. And there were no Arabs in this region when the Greeks ruled BC times.
gravenimage says
Actually, “Palestine” was the term used by the Romans, and referred to the Philistines.
gravenimage says
Those territories are not “occupied,” and there is no “West Bank” and no “Palestine”
…………..
So true. “Palestine” was invented by the Soviets to discredit Israel and the West.
Roland says
Gravenimage, you make an important point. The artificial country of “Palestine” was an invention of Soviet propaganda and stage management. Ion Pacepa has reported that Yassir Arafat was an Egyptian bourgeois trained and transformed by the KGB into a national revolutionary leader.
gravenimage says
+1
Jule Bacal says
Actually, Palaistine is the Greek way to say Yisrael (Hebrew)Greeks ruled in Hellenist era. Both mean wrestle/struggle. Jacob wrestled the old power and was then called Yisra (struggle/wrestle) EL. Greeks wrote all the first Histories for the western countries (Rome, old Europe all who read Greek but not any Hebrew) Greeks translated Hebrew scripts into the Septuagint and all the west read that. The WEST called Yisrael with the Greek name Palaistine. So yes, Soviet Union knew this and told Arafat after Arafat was kicked out of Jordan & moved to Lebanon organizing the PLO, ‘call yourself Palestinians because the West uses the Greek name, not thinking & PLO can claim the region as Palestinians. Yisrael/Israel was still used by Jews so it could seem to be to the west that they were not the Palaistinians/Palaestinians/Palestinians- (followers of the one who wrestled old Power) Yisra el (Jacob) was the one who wrestled the old power but no one inside used that western conqueror’s name. Philistine is also a GREEK name but it means Crude or without Culture. Palaistine was not Philistine (Gaza regions) .Rome read the Greek and called all the Levant Palaestina with Latin spelling. It included Gaza (where the nonSemitic Aegean Philistines invaded), Transjordan, Sinai, Yisrael, Lebanon(Phoenicia), Damascus and half of Syria.So today, because the west used the Greek translations, people do not remember Palaistine was Greek for Yisrael & it was the GREEK state. Soviet Union knew we would get it all mixed up, especially because of the Septuagint. Soviet Union wanted Communism to rule Palestine too. It is complicated and shallow thinking is mainstream.
gravenimage says
Please see my reply above.
Stella says
Let us also not forget the struggle inside the people calling themselves jews. Some deny Israel on the basis that the messiah hasn’t come yet, so creating the state is premature and not in accordance with gods plans.
There seem to one other tidbit that would leave “Palestinians” with their pants down; that jewish interests started buying the land already in the middle of the 19th century, in good faith. They have already sold it to people who founded their new land upon it. Which, according to zionists isn’t cheating, if I understand things correctly. So, in reality, this is a fight between people who identify themselves with certain groups, and these guys perpetuate a fight that has been going on since Moses. Yeah, sounds as if we will solve this really soon, and by peaceful means…
Jule Bacal says
‘Because the Messiah has not come its premature?’ Yisrael was a Nation (which included Judea in the beginning). Judea and 12 other States run by Jacob’s (Yisrael’s) sons. Jacob was called Yisra (struggle/wrestle) EL after he wrestled the old power El. So it was ALREADY a Nation of 13 States. It was Established waiting for a Messiah. So these people who say its against Judaism to be an established State is misguided and best and idiotic at worst.
After GEEKS invaded and ruled in the Hellenist Era the Greek language was the official. Yisrael (Hebrew) translated into Greek is Palaistine (followers (ine) of the one who wrestled the ole power. Philistine is a GREEK name for the non Semitic Aegean tribe who invaded Gaza very early on. Philistine in Greek means Crude or without culture. In Hebrew Philistines were called Peleshet. Palaistine is NOT Philistine until Rome conquered & renamed all the Levant Palaestina with Latin spelling. . All the west read Greek. Rome read the Septuagint which was the Hebrew old Testament translated into Greek. Also the earliest Histories in Greek were read by the ‘west’. (old Europe & Rome.The West called the holy land of Yisrael, Palestine. Soviet Union knew we would get it confused and told Arafat…Call yourselves palestinians and the West will think it has nothing to do with Yisrael (unless they know Greek and ancient history but they are too shallow to know. Call yourselves The Palestinians and claim the refion for PLO.’ It worked but it is not True.
And Yisrael which split into north and south (Judea), was alread an established Nation of 13 States. When Babylonians capture Judeans it was then that Babylonians started saying Jews (Judeans)
Whatever, there is NO need to wait for a Messiah. Yisrael was Established from the line of Abraham down to Jacob (renamed Yisra el) Its done. What are they thinking?
Stella says
1) I’ve heard that from jews, so let go. None of us have all the info and all perspectives. 2) You have now repeated more or less the same info in this thread for the third time today. I thought the comment section was to discuss topics to come to a better understanding. You are just trying to make us yield to your world-view and obey. I won’t do that. You have only succeeded in making me less interested in this topic.